Advice on upgrading motherboard/CPU 64 bit x2

[Duplicity2]

I have RS480M skt 939 CPU AMD Athlon 64 3000+ & would like to upgrade on a budget of £200 That's all I have sadly. I need to still be compatible with the rest of my current hardware (let me know if you need more info on those) & ideally would like to leave as much room for upgrades in the future as possible.

Graphics ATI Radeon HD4650
2GB RAM (2 x Corsair VS1GB400C3)
OS Windows 7
PSU is ATX 12v model 450UB
Hard Drive is Deskstar 7K250

Does anyone have advice for me?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

sadly, thats getting to be some seriously ancient hardware. You're going to be almost better off getting a whole new system. let me see what I can do for £200

 

[Duplicity2]

Yeah I know. I can't afford much right now but I thought if I could upgrade the motherboard then it'll allow me to upgrade the other components as & when I can afford it. Figured there's not much point upgrading CPU alone as it would be a waste of money. Thanks for looking into it for me. I know I'll need to buy new RAM too.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

is your HDD IDE or SATA?

 

[Duplicity2]

HDD is Sata

 

[Duplicity2]

HDD is Sata

 

[ScrewySqrl]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£69.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£38.64 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£24.13 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.00 @ Aria PC)
Case: Zalman ZM-T2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£19.14 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £225.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 18:02 BST+0100)

ok, this is a bit over your 200 pound budget, but its a stronger processor and GPU than yourexisting system (though it will still only game at low/medium settings)

 

[Duplicity2]

Thank you, let me have a look at them. While I do can I ask a question? Why are storage, case & power supply included?

 

[Duplicity2]

You're right it's a stronger processor & GPU than I have right now which is great but I was hoping to do better by spending the money on the CPU & motherboard & utilising the case, power supply & graphics card I have now. This is probably a stupid question but is it advisable to have integrated graphics? My plan was to get a motherboard without graphics & use the graphics card I have now until I can afford to upgrade it. It would also allow me to upgrade again at a future date. Would that be possible? I appreciate you taking the time to help me. Sorry if I'm being awkward!

 

[ScrewySqrl]

this particular processor has the graphics integrate don teh CPU, which is more powerful than your 4650. the cae is optional, if you feel you can re-use your current case, and teh PSU is because your old system (which is 5-6 years old) has an aging PSU. They don't last forever, and I would be concerned using such an old part with new components.

if you want, you could replace teh case and storage with an Athlon II 760K and a HD 7770, reuse your case an HDD.
---
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£38.64 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£24.13 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card (£77.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £236.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 18:44 BST+0100)

 

[Duplicity2]

Thanks for explaining & that processor is marginally better (either is still much better than I have of course). Can I ask what makes you recommend that motherboard? Would I be able to upgrade graphics on this in the future? I notice it has a PCI-E slot but I don't know it that's used for the integrated graphics or if you can add a graphics card there. Frankly motherboards confuse me. It's hard enough to work out if they have the right sockets let alone what they offer that's better than their counterparts. Do you know what makes them loud or quiet?
Yeah, I bought the PC about 5 or 6 years ago & it was decent then but the PSU is only a year old. I appreciate you advising me to get a new, sounds sensible. Do you think that's still necessary? I would rather concentrate the money on a decent mobo & CPU. I upgraded my current PC as much as possible but I can't make it any better because of the mobo, which is why I'm conscientious of getting a good one or I'll just need to get another in a couple of years.
Sorry if I'm being dense but the prices you've given (thanks for that btw) are broken down but graphics is integrated so I was wondering why there's a separate price for it?

 

[Duplicity2]

Am I right in thinking any ATX has a similar configuration & would fit into the same size case?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

yes. ATX and MicroATX boards will geneally always fit in an ATX case.

the 760K + HD7770 GPU can do most games at 1920x1080 at medium-high settings, with no problem.

Its probably as good as you will get for 200 pounds.

you said your PSU was only about a year old? If so, what's the brand on it? The XFX model I have is 80+ Bronze certified (meaning 82% efficiency at the wall) and one of the highest quality machines.

if its a reliable brand, thats another £35 you could put into the GPU, or to increasing from 4 to 8 GB RAM for the build.

ther mobo I got is limited to only 1 GPU slot (not really a problem) and doesn't have USB 3 or SATA 3 (that would be an A75 chipset), but this build isn't using that anyway

the 760K is a richland-based 4-core cpu, similar to a FX-4300, but lacking L3 Cache.

at this price, you won't find a better chip.

 

[Duplicity2]

The video card is great and a good price. I'm just confused why I would want integrated graphics on PCU & an additional video card. I'm probably being really dense but can you explain why I need both? I'm really confused about that.

My PSU is ATX 12v model 450UB which is pretty mid range so should be good enough. However, i think I have a better PSU somewhere. It was a bronze something or other with 500.

I think you're choices are exceptional for the budget & you've done a brilliant job. But, i'm not sure about APU's. Maybe they're the future & I'll be kicking myself if I don't get one. They seem a great price for what they do but I can't help feeling they seem restricting. It's really important to me that I have room to improve. I may not have much money to spend now but I will want to spend more as soon as I can scrape it together. It's really depressing to realise my PC is stuck in the dark ages & there's nothing I can do, short of practically building it from scratch, to improve it!

I know the CPU & RAM are the most important things to the future of the PC & with my budget, I'm not going to get a top of the range set! So, I really want something I can build on, which is why I'm harping on about the motherboard. As far as I can tell, the motherboard is key if I want to make improvements because it'll depend on the CPU socket & capacity for RAM. Please let me know if I have that wrong. This being the case maybe I need to save up a bit more before I buy anything. *Although, the RAM capacity on the ASrock is much better than I have now, it's still fairly low compared to what's on the market. It also has an FM2 socket which I wasn't familiar with so I looked it up. I know it's impossible to know what will happen in the future but I gather FM2 socket isn't widely used so I'd be concerned about my choice for upgrades.

I know you get what you pay for & I don't have much to spend right now which is why I'm looking for an investment to build on rather than the best I can get for the money, which is what I think you've done a very good job of finding for me. I'm far from an experienced builder so I keep looking things up so I can understand. If there are long term benefits to the suggestions you've made then please could you let me know?

*EDIT - Don't know what I was thinking, 16GB is more than enough. I have 2GB now!

 

[ScrewySqrl]

well, technically the 760K is NOT an APU. the on-die GPU is disabled in that model. That said, the APU versions have better graphics than your 4650, and can generally handle every tasks and even light gaming.

I tend to have a slightly different approach -- I build the best I can at any one moment, with the understanding that any PCs are going to be obsolete in 2-3 years.

the FM2 socket should still be used with the next generation of APUs (though likely not past that)

 

[Duplicity2]

well, technically the 760K is NOT an APU. the on-die GPU is disabled in that model. That said, the APU versions have better graphics than your 4650, and can generally handle every tasks and even light gaming.

I tend to have a slightly different approach -- I build the best I can at any one moment, with the understanding that any PCs are going to be obsolete in 2-3 years.

the FM2 socket should still be used with the next generation of APUs (though likely not past that)

 

[Duplicity2]

Sorry for the delay in replying. They turned my electricity off for tree cutting!
I think your approach is very sensible & since I think I'll have to factor in the cost of buying the OS too (mine might be OEM) I don't think I have enough money right now. I'm going to save up some more & then get a brand new system. All of my current hardware seems pretty dated & worth replacing. As it will take some time to save the money, I'll check to see if there are any upgrades worth investing in on my current system to improve the performance. Should I start a new thread for advice on that?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I woudl think your existing hardware is largely not worth the costs of upgrading, though MAYBE you can keep the PSU and Case, depending on the brand and fan count. your 'ATX 12 450UB' worries me, as it sounds like a no-name brand model.

As fir your OS, Microsift *usually* doesn't fuss if you transfer even an OEM to a new PC, as long as the old one isn't in use anymore.

 

[Duplicity2]

The PSU is Citi make. I think that's a fairly OK one isn't it.

I read an article about OEM OS not being transferable so I guess there's a chance I might need to replace it. I'm going to save up a bit more money before I upgrade to make sure I can cover the cost of a new OS & maybe afford a better system. I appreciate your help though & now I know I need to wait! Thanks again